Devotionals

John Calvin comments that Christ “does not convey to [the Apostles and their successors] what is peculiar to himself. It belongs to him to forgive sins… . [Instead, He] enjoins them, in his name, to proclaim the forgiveness of sins, ...Read More

We will look more at church discipline in the days ahead. As we close our study today, let us be reminded that coming into the Lord’s presence without repentance is dangerous indeed. It is particularly risky when we claim to ...Read More

Although Christ is not advocating the view of transubstantiation, He is saying something true when He refers to His body as our bread and His blood as our drink. As noted in Calvin’s comments above, there is a real spiritual ...Read More

Speaking sacramentally, we refer to the bread as the body of Christ and the wine as His blood in order to proclaim that He is truly present when we sit at His table. Ours is a supernatural faith, and we ...Read More

Question and answer 168 of the Westminster Larger Catechism expand upon the benefits we receive by the Spirit in the Lord’s Supper. We are enabled to renew our thankfulness to God for all that He has done for us. We ...Read More

We are not advocating the Roman Catholic view of transubstantiation or the Lutheran view of consubstantiation when we affirm the true presence of Christ in the Lord’s Supper. As we will see, we simply mean that we meet with the ...Read More

At our conversion, we make a decisive break with sin and come into the safety of Christ’s fold. Still, there is a sense in which we must continue to come to Him every moment of our lives. As we actively ...Read More

God does not see His people in the same way that He sees the unregenerate world. He sees us as holy, but He sees those outside of Christ as unholy. This does not mean He is ignorant of our remaining ...Read More

The sacraments are mysteries in that we cannot explain fully what God accomplishes through them. We do know, however, that they are more than memorial observations. They become effectual means of grace to those with faith by the working of ...Read More

In Christ, our guilt has been dealt with. When we trust in Jesus alone, we are forgiven of our sins. They are sent out of God’s sight, not in that He pretends they never happened but in that they are ...Read More